John Gill Commentary Exodus 30:24

"and of cassia five hundred, after the shekel of the sanctuary, and of olive oil a hin." — Exodus 30:24 (ASV)

And of cassia five hundred [shekels]
Or two hundred and fifty ounces:

after the shekel of the sanctuary ;
according to the standard weight kept there. This "cassia" was not the "cassia solutiva", which is of a purgative nature, and now in use in physic, but the "cassia odorata", or the sweet smelling "cassia": which, Pancirollus ^F19 says, some take to be the nard, out of which a most sweet oil is pressed; and Servius ^F20 says, that cassia is an herb of a most sweet smell. Pliny ^F21 speaks of it along with cinnamon; and Galen says, when cinnamon was wanting, it was usual to put in its stead a double quantity of cassia {w}; Leo Africanus speaks of trees in Africa bearing cassia, and which chiefly grew in Egypt ^F24 ;

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and of oil olive an hin ;
containing twelve logs: according to Godwin ^F25 , it was of our measure three quarts; but, as Bishop Cumberland has more exactly calculated it, it held a wine gallon, a quart, and a little more: this was the purest and best of oil, and most fit and proper to be a part of this holy anointing oil.

FOOTNOTES:

• F19: Ut supra, (Rer. Memorab. sive Deperd. par. 1.) tit. 11. p. 30.
• F20: In Virgil. Bucol. Eclog. 2.
• F21: Ut supra, (Nat. Hist. l. 12.) c. 19.
• F24: Descriptio Africae, l. 9. p. 752.
• F25: Moses & Aaron, l. 6. c. 9.